Of the 5,000 or so “erotic services” ads on the Twin Cities craigslist Web site, the word “Republican” appears twice. In an ad looking for event “hostesses” during next week’s presidential nominating convention in St. Paul, and in another ad promising “your secret is safe w/me!” A third recently posted ad promises “RNC fun.”

That’s not a lot. From the mountain of tongue-in-cheek speculation among local prostitutes, you’d expect more.

Just wait, they say.

“The day before the convention, you’ll see a hundred of ’em pop up,” said Jennifer, who has been a prostitute for 27 years, she said, in seven major cities, from Fresno to Chicago. Now, she’s in St. Paul.

It’s nothing personal, she said. Nothing to do with the word “Republican,” despite some partisan aspersions.

It has a lot more to do with the fact that a convention of about 45,000 people — people with significantly more disposable income than an average “john” — is in the Twin Cities.

And the first thing prostitutes do when they get to a new city, Jennifer said, is find out when the conventions are coming.

“Any convention. The science convention, maybe not, but the medical convention — it’s just you’re going to be making more money.”

And the Republican National Convention?

“It’ll be just like the Super Bowl.”

“I’ve definitely had a lot of inquiries for that time frame,” said Tiffany, 25, a Twin Cities escort who originally worked in the Washington, D.C., area and was asking for a “donation” twice the price in a typical craigslist ad. “There will be an increase. Absolutely. Ab-so-lutely.”

“Women are going to be looking for better clientele. Not so much b.s. Better money,” said Laura, 20, who has been a sex worker for about 18 months. “I probably would feel safer (at the convention) than seeing someone in North Minneapolis.”

Social worker Beth Jacobs heads day and night support groups for St. Paul-based Breaking Free, a nonprofit organization that works to help women and girls get out of prostitution.

She reiterates some of the recent talk: “It’s going to pick up, no question. It’s the money. It’s the money game.”

Still, St. Paul police Cmdr. Rob Thomasser, in charge of the vice unit, expects the usual activity, based on other cities’ experiences.

“We heard this could be a trend. But in checking with New York and Boston (the sites of the 2004 Republican and Democratic conventions), we found that was not the case. The (St. Paul) advance team went there, that was one of the things they specifically asked about.

“I’m not anticipating it will be any worse than it is now.”

He is backed up by current reports from Denver, site of this week’s Democratic National Convention, according to police there.

Denver police spokesman Lt. Ron Saunier said as of Wednesday afternoon, there had not been a single solicitation arrest during the convention by the department’s vice squad. He maintained the crime was still being given equal priority, even with all the other convention duties.

However, while suspicious Web site ads dipped a couple of weeks ago, this week they jumped, the department noted.

Boston even reported a decrease in activity — “because there was such a presence of law enforcement,” Thomasser said.

Neither Boston nor New York police returned calls to explain how they measured activity.

“I have two or three girlfriends coming in from Chicago. I’m sure they will do a sweep, but that won’t stop people from coming in from out of town,” Jennifer said. “Any police, they’ll have their hands full monitoring the convention. Whatever is going on will go on behind closed doors, on the Internet, over the phone.”

Don’t expect RNC delegates to be out trolling Rice Street or Payne Avenue, she said.

“They (prostitutes) are not going to be out walking on the street. Minnesota’s never been like that, except for in your drug areas.”

Aside from prostitution, “there is not an adult entertainment venue in the area that is booking private parties for this event. Usually an event of this nature wouldn’t book a private party. … I can say that because we all talk to each other,” said Julian Royal, area director of VCG Holdings, which owns the upscale gentlemen’s club Schieks Palace Royale in downtown Minneapolis.

“But we are expecting increased business,” he added — meaning additional staff and mandatory work hours — and noting that the business has secured a license to stay open until 4 a.m. “Let’s put it this way: Everyone’s working.”

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